Verizon Applauds New CTIA Consumer Policy for Usage Alerts

CTIA-The Wireless Association announced on Monday (Oct. 17) that wireless companies have agreed to a standard set of guidelines for sending notifications to help wireless consumers avoid unexpected overage charges. These "Wireless Consumer Usage Notification Guidelines" give consumers free alerts, which subscribers will not have to affirmatively sign up to receive, to help prevent overages and potential additional charges for data, voice, messaging and international roaming services. The following statement should be attributed to Kathleen Grillo, Verizon senior vice president for federal regulatory affairs:

"Verizon Wireless has a long-standing commitment to provide customers with the tools they need to manage and monitor their wireless lives. The new CTIA usage-notification guidelines announced today are a win for consumers. For the first time, the industry has adopted a common standard for all wireless providers to expand usage-management tools for consumers. Verizon already offers customers a number of helpful free alerts and controls for usage-based data plans, and we're pleased that the industry took the initiative to empower consumers with more information.

"Chairman Genachowski deserves credit for raising the industry's awareness of the value of more usage alerts. He encouraged the industry to address usage alerts in a manner that recognizes that innovations in the wireless world develop quickly. The result is an industry code that will serve consumers better than rules that would soon be outdated, and that is responsive to President Obama's request that federal agencies avoid imposing unnecessary regulation on businesses when a nonregulatory solution is available. We hope that in the future this industry effort serves as a model for the communications space."

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, NASDAQ:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with more than 106 million total connections nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries, including all of the Fortune 500. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of nearly 196,000 and last year generated consolidated revenues of $106.6 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.